Starting a new show at Centreville High School is like starting a new school year. Not only do you get the valued experience of old friends; you also get the excitement of new talent. Once rehearsals begin we all get to know our new family and start to bond as a cast. Later on in the production there is a renewed sprit of joy when we find our new home, the set. To top it all off there is an elegant mix of educational and professional theatre.
In the fall of 2001 Centreville opened its new season with our Cappie reviewed show, Neil Simon's "The Good Doctor." This is a dramatization of Anton Chekhov's short stories which kept the audiences laughing. Chekhov (Logan Conner) came into the story as the narrator and guided the scenes along. Overall, "The Good Doctor" showed how pain could be funny, as long as it's not your pain.
The director, Mark Rogers, said, "There is no greater joy for a director, actor or an audience than to be involved in the work of Neil Simon."
After the student-directed One Acts in February, the theatre year comes to anything but a grinding halt. It's time for the spring show! After the anxious anticipation of waiting to see what the show will be, and then when auditions have finally finished, learning who was cast. All were excited to hear that Centreville's spring 2002 show was going to be a classic, "Our Town," by Thorton Wilder. In "Our Town" the audience is guided through the lives of the Gibbs and the Webbs living in Grover's Corners. Some were excited about the cast list and some disappointed, though not Erin Left, who was cast as Emily Webb. And what a cute couple she makes with Michael Peterson, who was cast as George Gibbs.
Who can forget the stage manager, the narrator of the show, Phil Whightman? So join us for Centreville High School's production of "Our Town," May 2, 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the Skip Maiden Theatre.